Jenny Beth’s Journal: Biden‘s Conflict of Interest

October 17, 2019

2020 candidate and former vice president Joe Biden had a conflict of interest the day his son, Hunter, joined the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company. He didn’t even announce to the rest of the Obama administration that he was recusing himself from all matters relating to Ukraine. Biden’s actions reflect a severe lack of judgment.

The point is, Joe Biden was conflicted in the conduct of U.S. policy toward Ukraine the moment his son joined the board of directors of Ukraine’s second-largest privately owned natural gas producer.

At that point, the ethically (and politically) proper thing to do would have been for the vice president to inform his superior, President Obama, that his son had taken a position on the board of directors of a major foreign company, and that, to avoid any questions being asked about whether or not Vice President Biden’s conduct of U.S. foreign policy toward Ukraine were being tainted by his considerations of his son’s personal financial interests, he, the vice president, would recuse himself from that point forward, and would no longer have any input into the formulation or execution of U.S. policy toward Ukraine.

But Mr. Biden did not do that. In a failure of judgment so colossal it will forever haunt him, Vice President Biden failed to execute the obvious maneuver to avoid questions of ethics — and the political damage that would come with them — down the road.

Making and executing policy that could affect your child’s personal financial interests is so obvious a conflict of interest that even one of Mr. Biden’s current rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination recognizes it. Asked on CNN’s “State of the Union” recently if she would allow her vice president’s child to sit on the board of directors of a foreign company, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar said, “No, I wouldn’t … And I can promise you right now my own daughter, who is only 24, does not sit on the board of a foreign company.”

Even without the appearance of corruption, the former vice president’s failure to disclose his son’s position and subsequently recuse himself from foreign policy as it related to Ukraine was a huge lapse in judgment that begs to question his fitness to be President of the United States.

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2020 candidate and former vice president Joe Biden had a conflict of interest the day his son, Hunter, joined the board of directors of a Ukrainian energy company. He didn’t even announce to the rest of the Obama administration that he was recusing himself from all matters relating to Ukraine. Biden’s actions reflect a severe lack of judgment.
The Washington Times has Jenny Beth’s commentary:
The point is, Joe Biden was conflicted in the conduct of U.S. policy toward Ukraine the moment read more >